This weekend, Sonos is celebrating the much lauded arrival of the Google Assistant on its wireless music systems with The Brilliant Sound Experience: an immersive, multi-sensory installation in London’s Soho. Also highlighting new music from The National and slowthai, the installation is set to uncover the key elements that make up Sonos’ signature sound – inviting you to hear, and unusually, see it, first-hand.
Sonos’ mission statement focusses on inspiring the world to ‘listen better’, and as such, the exhibition will visually deconstruct the sonic experience, exploring how sound works, how it layers into music, and why it resonates with us on an emotional level. Guests will see real-time visualisations of their brain’s reaction to the music, allowing them to physically step inside the sound.
The installation reads interestingly in relation to the one Google presented with Johns Hopkins University’s Arts + Mind Lab earlier this year at Salone del Mobile in Milan, which explored the ways in which design, lighting and interior architecture directly impacts on our inner calm.
In Milan, guests donned reactive Google-made wrist bands, which monitored heart rate, body temperature and moisture to track emotional response. At the London showcase, EEG headbands provide the scientific analysis, tracing the interrelation between brainwaves and soundwaves. To a backdrop of evocative songs from the Beggars Group labels – specifically chosen for their ability to spark reaction – guests can better understand their brain’s emotional responses through attractive visual maps, that look like fireworks of colourful neurons.
The second of two rooms asks: ‘When does sound become music?’, illustrated by a dynamic composition by American band The National. The song layers the track ‘Rylan’ from new album I Am Easy To Find, and British rapper slowthai’s new single ‘Toaster’ from his debut album There’s Nothing Great About Britain. Visitors can expect to be immersed ‘both audibly and visually’, explains The National’s Scott Devendorf. Watch – and listen to – this space. §